The Story Of Stuff

How Our Obsession With Stuff Is Trashing The Planet, Our Communities, And Our Health--and A Vision For Change

The director of The Story of Stuff Project tracks the life of the "stuff" we use every day, transforming how we think about our patterns of consumption. This book is based on the author's 2007 internet film, "The Story of stuff." "With just 5 percent of the world's population, [the U.S.] is consuming 30 percent of the world's resources and creating 30 percent of the world's waste." -- Dust jacket.

Perhaps the smartest local Seattle has ever produced, she writes a super-informative book of the most important kind, yet I fear even her actions and activities are too late to save humanity, especially the sociopathic sort found in the US of A! (The super-rich know no morality when it comes to achieving their ends, whether sponsoring NCIS propaganda shows (Lockheed Martin) or Boeing's subsidiares, Narus and Jeppeson Data Plan, or the vile Consumers Financial Protection Bureau, the phony shill outfit from the Obama administration (which Sen. Elizabeth Warren wasted her valuable, and still naive, time on, but now realizes she was duped when they placed it under the Federal Reserve, which protects the banks) whose two major achievements have been providing a legal shield or immunity for the banks who filed all those felonious false affidavits for mortgage fraudclosure, and the recent announcement for the federal government (i.e., the taxpayers and tax base) be responsible for mortgage backed securities - - haven't we already by through this?

BlueDinoBitU
Feb 22, 2013

i found annie is SUPER smart ii started to look for the thing she talked about like toxics in cosmetics and i found out even BURTS BEES had lead in it! BURTS BEES????!!!!!

Annie Leonard delivers a lot of information in a very easy manner. I've always had a hard time getting my head around all the junk around us -- so much of our "goods" are toxic and unnecessary -- and this book made me feel like I'm not crazy.

gareichler
Oct 15, 2011

This is a great book! I watched the movie in August 2010 and reserved the book shortly after it came out. Both have changed me a lot.

I had been sent the original video and superficially watched it understanding that it explained that most western people wasted an awfjul lot of "stuff". I read the book in more depth and appreciate that the forces of corporations are overwhelming. They have co-opted part of the green story with less than green results. One example is re-cycling which is really one of the least important. We make products for temporary use and then discard. We need to re-use more products and better yet design them for much longer use. This goes against the economic dictate that we must always grow. Although we have not reached nature's limits we have stepped over a line that will be hard to reverse. A lot of food for thought.

"The message that society must end the glorification of consumerism and growth for its own sake is increasingly prevalent. Unfortunately much of it is received as nothing but liberal fearmongering. Leonard mixes her facts with first-hand accounts and line-drawn illustrations to deliver her message in a friendly and enlightening way, without finger-pointing at the reader."
Top 10 Books of 2010: Amber Elbon, newsletter/web producer

Summary

Annie Leonard shows us the problems with our consumerist society, with a chapter for each step in the materials economy: extraction, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal. In the epilogue, she explains how we can change this. She includes small boxes of information and many short stories throughout the book.